Former mayor owns an eyesore in historic district

Some neighbors are fed up with a husk of a structure owned by former mayor Ed Garza. Fire gutted the Monticello Park home nearly two years ago.

Some neighbors are fed up with a husk of a structure owned by former mayor Ed Garza. Fire gutted the Monticello Park home nearly two years ago.

Photo: Juanito M Garza, San Antonio Express-News

Photo: Juanito M Garza, San Antonio Express-News

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Some neighbors are fed up with a husk of a structure owned by former mayor Ed Garza. Fire gutted the Monticello Park home nearly two years ago.

Some neighbors are fed up with a husk of a structure owned by former mayor Ed Garza. Fire gutted the Monticello Park home nearly two years ago.

Photo: Juanito M Garza, San Antonio Express-News

Former mayor owns an eyesore in historic district

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As former Mayor Ed Garza seeks re-election to the San Antonio Independent School District's board of trustees, he might have trouble winning the votes of residents in the 100 block of North Drive in historic Monticello Park.

Some are fed up with an ugly husk of a structure owned by Garza but left to languish after a blaze gutted it nearly two years ago.

“I have complained numerous times, including to the man who was walking around trying to get me to vote for Garza,” said Catherine Lee, who lives across from the eyesore.

When the visitor asked permission to post a “Vote for Garza” sign in Lee's front yard, she motioned across the street and said, “Put it in your yard.”

Garza's firm, Urban One 30, bought the property to restore and sell. Garza and Sam Wayne, his business partner, have flipped six other fixer-uppers in the neighborhood.

This one, built in 1930, caught fire in the spring of 2011. Garza said the work of a contractor accidentally sparked the blaze.

On Monday, a white cat darted out of the brick house. Plywood covered its windows and doors, and the front was tagged with graffiti. What remained of a roof sagged inward, and exposed wiring that snaked out of an electrical box in the back.

“I think it's a hazard,” she said. “All of that is just sitting there. If anybody tries to get in there to stay warm, it's dangerous.”

Garza, who lives in Monticello Park, said he's also worried about the structure's safety. Last year, he asked a subcommittee of the city's Historic and Design Review Commission to visit the property.

“They did recommend repair rather than demolition,” said Shanon Miller, the city's historic preservation officer.

Garza said the decision was “frustrating.” But Miller said it shouldn't stop Garza from pursuing demolition of the structure with the HDRC.

“It's nonbinding,” she said. “It's advisory. We put (the subcommittee) in place so they can help the process. It's just a recommendation. If he really were interested in pursuing demolition, the next step would be submitting an application.

“He didn't actually submit a demolition request.”

Garza said he hasn't done so because he has sued the contractor, and “our attorneys told us to wait until the litigation got further.”

Despite fielding at least nine complaints about the property since the fire, the city has not brought the case before its Building Standards Board, which rules on the repair or demolition of unsafe structures.

“I would have loved to have seen it restored,” he said. “However, now it's almost become — the city uses the term demolition by neglect. It's been exposed. The roof has been off for two years. We've had rainfall.

“It appears that you've let it go so long that demolition is inevitable. And so if demolition is inevitable, let's do it.”

Garza's stature as president of the SAISD board made Sipes hesitant to write “official” letters about the property.

“My fear was that the working relationship between the district and the neighborhood would be damaged, and that any chance of compromise on the controversial field lighting or perimeter fencing (at Jefferson High School) would be ruined,” Sipes later wrote in an email.

“All of our conversations with Ed were via informal means, though we believed that he fully understood our desire to see some sort of resolution. We hoped to encourage action rather than take a more aggressive approach. Since nothing has been done at the site, however, I now realize my approach was far too timid.”

From the sound of it, Durke has dispensed with timidity.

“I feel like we deserve to know the truth,” she said. “What's really going on? Why is it taking so long?

“He wants to put a sign in my yard. That takes a lot of damn gall. Take care of your own business first. And I think the reason he's gotten away with it for so long is it's Ed Garza's property.”